Royal ballet upper school

[77889party]

I don't know if anyone will know the answer to this, but I have an audition coming up for the Royal ballet upper school. Do they give people places at the school for technique at this stage or potential? Or even both? I love ballet and have been told I have the body and natural ability but because I only started this year I would be very behind! Do I have a chance? :)

Put it this way, they must be taking you seriously and think you can catch up to be even offering you an audition.

Talk to your ballet teacher. Congratulations, and good luck!

I thought they gave everyone an audition? :)

To be honest, and I don't want to be harsh, but probably not. You will be up against people who have been training very seriously since the age of 11-the pupils who've been at the Lower School, for example, who've had daily training. There's only three years of the Upper School before you have to get a job, so taking someone purely on potential seems quite unlikely.

However if you've made a lot of progress in your year and can prove your determination I may be wrong and will hopefully be corrected by someone else..

Have you looked at any audition videos sent in by overseas applicants on e.g. YouTube? Are you are their standard?

Everyone gets a first audition I think. Second/final auditions are given based on the results of the first

What have you got to lose?! Everyone has a chance.

Ricepolo That's what I thought, I have been looking at other dancers my age and they are far above me technically. It's mainly the spins and flexibility. I'm already on pointe but I guess I'll have to wait and see! :)

You can but try. They want people who genuinely want to dance, so if that shines through, that'll go a long way.

Hopefully :)

It would be worthwhile auditioning for other schools too - better than putting all your eggs in one basket

Have you applied for anywhere else as well?

How many hours per week are you doing and at what level? Most auditioning for upper schools will be doing around 20 hours per week and working at Advanced 2 level. My ds is only 12 and already does 20 hours of dance a week at his vocational school.

Royal Ballet US is incredibly difficult to get into and even their lower school pupils struggle to get places. If you want to go to dance school you're probably going to be better looking at some others. They audition everyone who applies, provided the auditions aren't already full. Have you applied?

I have already applied and have an audition, but I know I won't get in because of the level they are working at where as I'm working at grade 5/6. I do around 5 hours a week on ballet and have hugely improved since I started which was in May. And I haven't looked at any other places because I didn't think I had a chance anywhere I when I applied for the rbs I assumed that they picked people already from the application, and didn't think I would get audition:)

I'm working at grade 6/7 got that wrong

There are loads of other schools which would be worth looking at and where you would have a better chance of getting a place. I would also be looking to increase your hours dramatically if you're serious about dance. For reference my dd who is 9 is in grade 3/4 and does as much ballet as you. It is certainly possible to get a place at 16 with not much ballet experience but it takes a lot of work.

The closing dates for applying for most of the schools have been and gone for 2017 entry, but some do take applications at age 17 and 18 for entry into their first year of upper school training, so you could try again next time. They include:

Ballet West, Scotland
English National Ballet School, London
Central School of Ballet, London
Ballet Theatre UK, Leicestershire
Rambert School, London
Northern Ballet School, Manchester
KS Dance, Warrington

Ones that generally only take for Y12 entry at 16 are: Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst School, Tring Park School and Hammond School.

If you aren't successful this time, then try and do a summer school associated with one of the big dance schools. Summer school application forms are available now for many of them and the closing dates are looming. You could also see whether there is a CAT (Centre for Advanced Training) scheme near you, or another associate scheme which accepts 16+ students. There are a lot of dance workshops around too.

Best of luck

I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it goes as my audition is on the 11th but thank you :)

Dodo - Hammond accept entrants of all ages. Many students apply after A levels aged 18 as well as 16 year olds.

Thanks Eliza I think I did know that at the back of my mind somewhere, but isn't that for all-round/MT rather than classical though, and is there DaDa funding available?

How old are you, OP?

OP, enjoy your audition, and treat it as a lovely experience in itself.
RBS will see hundreds of students in the preliminary auditions for upper school places, and they then take several dozen through to the final audition. They will then choose from those finalists. Best of luck.

Dada funding is available. There is a common first year then students choose whether to continue on the dance or musical theatre pathways.

I'm 16 :)

How did you get on OP? another school to consider is the royal conservatoire in Glasgow (to add to dodo's list)

How did it go, OP?

Results for lower school coming out now in dribs and drabs depending on audition venue - don't think they have issued results for upper school yet.